TAMIYA-THON #2: Vanessa's Lunchbox

For #2 of TAMIYA-THON, I will follow up with the Lunchbox. The title says "Vanessa's Lunchbox" because that is the original decal for the body. Who's Vanessa? I seriously have no idea. This build was done a few years back along with my Grasshopper. This was also another Tamiya rerelease, the original one was released in 1987. The Lunchbox is a famous truck because of its unique van body style and wheelie performance.

The original promotional video can be seen on YouTube as well.


This is the boxart paint scheme of the Lunchbox, I think it looks really cute and unique!


And here is a new "Gold Edition" of the same truck, but with gold chrome plated body and wheels. I think this looks pretty good too!


Let's go to the build now!

First up, the mandatory NIB and contents shot.




Very nice styrene can body


The chassis is a tub-style one like the Grasshopper. However, due to the taller stance of the Lunchbox, the chassis is designed differently to accomodate the longer suspension shocks.


The rear axle is similar to the one on the Grasshopper, but with the addition of a wheelie bar. It also sports a 540 motor instead of the 380 size one in the Grasshopper providing it with more power. These motors are usually referred to as "Silver cans" and is usually what comes with most stock Tamiya kits.


The rear suspension shocks look like aluminum, but they are actually just chrome plated plastic friction units.


This is the completed chassis with the stock monster truck wheels.


As for painting the body, I went with my own color scheme for it.


Then I added some "weathering"...


Here is the final look, I have yet to paint the wheels another color. But I promise I will do so this coming week. Maybe a black color or same color as the body? I will post an updated picture once it's done.




Overall, this is a really fun truck to build and play with. The build was very easy and only took about a day to finish it. It is a fun truck to run because of its crappy performance. It bounces around and can wheelie whenever you want. Again, since this is a hard body truck, I don't dare to beat on it even though it's an inexpensive truck...I just don't like seeing cracked styrene bodies haha

Link to Tamiya Lunchbox page